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Debate shows super PACs' strength

Both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have distanced themselves from the groups. | AP Photo

Romney responded: “of course they’re former staff of mine” and “people who support me. They wouldn’t be putting money into a PAC that supports me if they weren’t people who support me.” And he said “if there’s anything in (the ads) that’s wrong, I hope to take it out.”

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“And as you know, under the law, I can’t direct their ads,” Romney told Gingrich. “The Super PACs that are out there running ads, Ron Paul’s, mine, yours, as you know, that is not my ad. I don’t write that ad. I can’t tell them not to,” Romney said, going so far as to assert “I haven’t seen ‘em.”

But he went on to describe – and defend – in great detail a particularly sharp-edged Restore Our Future ad that was the subject of a Friday letter from Gingrich’s lawyers threatening to sue South Carolina television stations that ran it. They say it wrongly asserts that Gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethics violations during his time as House Speaker when, in fact, he was only asked to “reimburse the House $300,000 to offset some costs of the Committee’s investigation.”

“The ad I saw said that you’d been forced out of the speakership,” Romney told Gingrich. “That was correct. It said that you’d sat down with Nancy Pelosi and argued for a climate change bill. That was correct. It said that you’d called … Paul Ryan’s plan to provide Medicare reform a right-wing social engineering plan. It said that as part of … an ethics investigation that you had to reimburse some $300,000. Those things are all true.”

Asked after the debate about Romney’s familiarity with the ad and whether he should take responsibility for it, former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, a top Romney surrogate, bristled.

“There’s a law out there that defines what can and can’t be done by those PACs, and all the candidates are following the law,” he told Chris Matthews on MSNBC.

“And to suggest that Gov. Romney shouldn’t know what’s in that ad with all the clippings that have been out describing it? Come on. Stop being ridiculous.”

But Gingrich also seemed to show some familiarity while defending the movie, asserting during Sunday’s debate it “will be based on establishment newspapers, like the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Barron’s, Bloomberg News, and I hope it is totally accurate. And then people can watch the 27 ½ minutes of his career at Bain and decide for themselves.”

I just wish the old fat man (Gingrich) would go home. He stated in last nights event that marriage is the bedrock of this country and how he supports it. I almost fell on the floor, this from a man who who has had open affairs with interns and anyone else that wears a dress. He also stated that he had no deferments from the draft. That was a lie, he had them when he was in college and after he was married. Says he loves his country (that is why he had affairs) but does not love it to serve it as a member of the armed forces. You should not be allowed to run as Commander in Chief, unless you have served in the military. Shame on Newt Gingrich.

The one thing they have applauded since the Supreme Court ruling was this complete river of money that would help them win. But what do they do? They destroy themselves, the non stop hate campaign they have leveled against each other will come back to haunt them, but none of them seem to care. Does that send any sane message to the Teanuttery? This is only a recipe for the destruction of the Republican party. What fun this is going to be to watch. People will be giddy over this one.

LOL MSNBC is no less crazy and stupid than FOX News. Conservatives have plenty of media outlets with high ratings and a wide variety of conservative views that cover every market so spare us all the MSM crybaby routine. You conservatives need to man up!